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Throttle Stuck Open

The throttle on my 2008 Vue XE stuck wide open today. I was accelerating hard from perhaps 35 mph and when I took my foot off the pedal around 40 or 45 the car kept accelerating. It basically ran away with me. I literally stood on the brake pedal and fought against the engine to force the car to slow down. I gradually brought the speed down this way over maybe five seconds (it felt like 20 seconds) until I reached perhaps 30 mph, whereupon I heard a sharp "clack," at which time the throttle closed. I was then able to bring the car back under control.

I assume that what happened is that the speed control somehow engaged with the throttle open and, for some reason, failed to disengage when I hit the brakes. I use the speed control all the time and I've never had any problems with it before. I believe the speed control was on at the time of the event, though it wasn't set (I had only just pulled away from a stoplight).

Comments

This needs to be reported to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) via their website.

Then, telephone the Saturn/GM customer care people (contact info is contained in your Owner's Manual), inform them of what has transpired with the vehicle, and also report that you have filed an incident report with NHTSA.

Ask the customer car people how to proceed with this problem. They will likely schedule an appointment with the GM Zone Representative, as even failing corporations are averse to law suits based on defective products.

Also, begin educating yourself about the details of the Lemon Law in your state. In most states, the dealership gets three attempts to rectify a problem, but this could vary, depending on the state.

I don't think it was the cruise control. If the vehicle has a mechanical throttle cable something may have jammed at wide open throttle (WOT). If the vehicle is drive-by-wire (electronically controlled throttle) the computer, for some reason, decided to keep the throttle open even after you reduced pressure on the accelerator.

Either way, I agree with VDCdriver in that you should report this to the NHTSA. You should also take it to the Saturn dealer ASAP. Luckily, it's still under warranty.

Just in case this should happen again, shift the transmission immediately into neutral to remove the acceleration force, and use the brakes to slow the vehicle. There's no sense fighting against the engine. The engine may race in neutral, but that won't hurt it. Once you stop the vehicle you can shut off the engine.

CHECK THOSE FLOOR MATS . Absolute step one. with the car OFF, kneel down beside the car and reach in with your hand and work the pedal to it's max travel. Be sure to pivot the pedal on it's lever as well and see if it lands anywhere near the leading edge of the mat. Even if it doesn't this time, pull the mat back a bit so that it won't.

Indeed I had a Michelin floor mat on the floor that I've determined could interfere with pedal movement under just the right conditions.... Dunno, however, whether those were the conditions that obtained when the car tried to kill me.

Would anyone recommend I simply insist Saturn replace the computer and pedal mechanism out of an abundance of caution? Other ideas? Do you think it would help to tell them this would be a chance to stick it to GM one last time?

"Would anyone recommend I simply insist Saturn replace the computer and pedal mechanism out of an abundance of caution?"

Unfortunately, an owner cannot specify how to repair a mechanical problem during the warranty period. The reason is that, if this "fix" does not resolve the problem, then the parts were wasted, so to speak. Dealers are required to go through a standardized diagnostic protocol in order to determine which parts to replace, so as to not waste time and money on bogus solutions.

Once a warranty is over, a car owner can specify which parts should be replaced--"on his own dime". However, it sounds like you will have gotten rid of this vehicle LONG before the warranty expires.